Borderlands
Borderlands is a space western, first-person shooter with role-playing elements that was developed by Gearbox Software for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It was first revealed in the September 2007 issue of Game Informer magazine. The console versions of the game were released in North America on October 20, 2009, and were released in PAL countries on October 23. The console version release for the Japanese market was made available on February 10, 2010. The Windows version was released on October 26 for North America and then on October 29 internationally. The Mac OS X version of the game was released on December 3, 2010 by Feral Interactive. Gameplay Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons. The four characters are: Roland the Soldier, Mordecai the Hunter, Lilith the Siren, and Brick (a Berserker) "as himself". From then on, players take on quests assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing both human and non-human foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points. Players start the game with the ability to equip two weapons, but can later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected but not used can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly-generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, on the ground, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire or cover them in burning acid, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo. A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. It was estimated that the random system could generate over 17 million variations of weapons, but actually only resulted in 987,564. The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely-varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator. When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a 'ratio-appropriate' percentage of their money in the process. Players quickly gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around. The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing co-operatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world, or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players. Synopsis Setting Borderlands is set on the planet of Pandora. Lured by its apparent vast deposits of minerals, several colonization ships sponsored by the Dahl Corporation (one of several diversified mega-corporations that appear to control and govern entire planets) journey to the planet and build settlements there. The mining operations are cost-effectively manned by large amounts of convict labor brought to the planet by Dahl. Prior to the events of the game, one of the other mega-corporations, the Atlas Corporation, had found an ancient vault on nearby planet Prometheus, filled with advanced alien weapons technology that allowed them to rapidly overtake their competitors. The presence of similar alien ruins scattered across Pandora spurs the Dahl Corporation to undertake an extensive search for a possible vault on Pandora, headed by Patricia Tannis, a respected xeno-archeologist. However, the Dahl-sponsored search for a vault on Pandora turns out to be fruitless, and the massive industrial mining operations soon deplete the bulk of the mineral deposits. Furthermore, the coming of the planet's summer unleashes hordes of dangerous alien wildlife coming out of hibernation. Those who are rich and important enough to leave the planet do so, leaving the rest of the population to scavenge for their living in isolated settlements in the barren wastelands and industrial trash heaps across the planet. To make matters worse, the Dahl Corporation simply opened the gates of the prison labor camps during their departure, and gangs of bandits terrorize the populace. Despite Dahl's failure to find it, "The Vault" lives on in legends, attracting mercenary "Vault Hunters" to the planet. Plot Borderlands begins some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of Pandora as several fortune seekers, including the player's character, arrive on the planet to hunt for the fabled Vault. After arriving at the town of Fyrestone, the player sees an image of a mysterious woman, the "Guardian Angel", who directs them to follow her instructions. The player meets a "Claptrap" and a man named Dr. Zed, who help the player establish themselves by killing several bandit leaders, eventually leading to the collection of the first alien artifact needed to open the vault. This causes Patricia Tannis, Dahl's former archeologist residing on the planet, to contact the player, revealing that the Vault opens every 200 years and the time of the next opening is approaching; she also indicates that three more artifacts are needed to complete the Vault's key. At the same time, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance, a well-outfitted mercenary force hired by the Atlas Corporation, threatens to declare martial law over the planet and demands the vault key pieces. While the player is able to secure the second and third Vault key pieces, they find that the final piece is not where it is expected. Steele contacts the player, revealing that Tannis had allegedly betrayed them and that there are in fact only three pieces, then proceeds to cut off the planet's ECHO network disabling further communication with the Guardian Angel and anyone else. The player infiltrates the Crimson Lance's headquarters and finds Tannis imprisoned; she claims she had no choice but to betray the player under force, but urges the player to restart the ECHO network and prevent Steele and the Crimson Lance from using the key. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel directs the player to find and stop Steele. The player finds, as they approach the Vault, that the Crimson Lance are in combat with alien Guardians; after bypassing both forces, the player finally arrives at the Vault, too late to stop Steele from using the key. However, when the Vault opens, Steele and her guard are wiped out by a giant monster that is attempting to escape the vault. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the Destroyer, imprisoned in the Vault by the alien Eridians long ago to prevent it from destroying the universe, with the Guardians present to prevent anyone from opening it. The player is able to defeat the monster, sealing the Vault for another 200 years. The player is shown that the Guardian Angel is a Hyperion satellite orbiting around Pandora communicating with the player through the ECHO network. The game ends with the Hyperion satellite sending a signal to a claptrap robot on the planet, changing it into a "Interplanetary Ninja Assassin" (continued in the plot of the DLC "Claptrap's New Robot Revolution"). Characters There are four playable characters in the game; though each is given the character's official name by default, the player may change their character name or the colors of various parts of their outfits at "New-U" stations throughout the game. Brick is a Berserker, a tank-style character who is strong in melee combat. Brick's preferred weapons are explosives and rocket launchers. Brick has the special ability to temporarily enter a berserker rage mode during which he cannot wield guns, instead using his massive fists to rapidly pound his enemies to death, and rapidly regenerates health. Besides being a melee expert, Brick can use explosive damage more efficiently than the other classes. Lilith is one of only six known Sirens, along with Maya and Commandant Steele, in the galaxy, beings with superhuman power. Lilith's Phasewalk ability allows her to temporarily enter another dimension, which renders her invisible to enemies, makes her move faster and she is unable to take damage from enemies (and only give damage when exiting Phasewalk). Her Phasewalk causes a powerful shock-wave blast that can damage nearby enemies whenever she enters and exits Phasewalk. Lilith's preferred guns are fire, acid, electrical, or explosive elemental tech weapons and some of her skills focus on improving her "damage over time" with elements. Mordecai, a Hunter, specializes in using Sniper Rifles and Revolvers and is aided by his pet Bloodwing, an alien bird resembling a hawk, which can be used to assist in his long-range attack skills and scavenging for loot. Roland, a former member of the Atlas Corporation's private Crimson Lance army, is described by the game as a "Soldier" and is able to deploy an automated gun turret that can be upgraded with a wide range of offensive and defensive abilities, along with a support role for his teammates. Roland is a good freewheeler and prefers shotguns and combat rifles. Accompanying the standard weapons, all characters also have a melee attack, and some weapons have an added blade for more melee damage. Development Borderlands was developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. It runs on a modified Unreal Engine 3. The developers decided that their original, cartoon-style concept artwork would suit the game better than a more realistic, polished method. This makes for somewhat cartoon-like action visuals; for example, the experience points gained and any special hit damage information float up from the enemy upon a successful hit. This method also enables the landscape and weapons to be highly detailed. Marketing and Release Retail Versions Borderlands was released in three separate versions: *The Standard Edition includes the game disc and instruction manual with no extras. *The Retail downloadable content packs which includes the first two episodes of Borderlands DLC: The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot was released on February 23, 2010, in North America. *The first Game of the Year Edition, released on October 12, 2010, in North America, included the original Borderlands game, one-time use vouchers for all 4 of the downloadable content packs, and a hand drawn bonus map. Players who bought this edition gained access to the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club, granting them exclusive items, including early access to the Duke Nukem Forever playable demo before it is publicly released. The second GOTY version included all 4 of the DLCs on a second disc on Xbox 360, but on the same disc on PS3. Downloadable Content On September 5, 2010, Pitchford announced at the Penny Arcade Expo that the release date was scheduled to be September 28, 2010. Pitchford also announced a free patch to increase the level cap by 8 for all players (to a maximum of Level 69, or 58 for those without Knoxx's Armory), regardless of whether the General Knoxx expansion had been purchased. All DLCs can be legally downloaded from the developer's website. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first installment of downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and includes new quests, items, and enemies—including WereSkags and various zombies. The storyline takes place in an area known as Jakobs Cove which is a small town built by the Jakobs Corporation. Dr. Ned had been in charge of keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, but ended up transforming them into zombies. The main plot revolves around finding previous visitors to Jakobs Cove and investigating Dr. Ned himself after the Jakobs Corporation become suspicious of his work. The playable area includes a large outdoor map with several further areas branched from the main zone—including a dark, abandoned version of previous area 'Old Haven'. The installment was released for the Xbox 360 (for 800 Microsoft points) and PlayStation 3 versions on November 24, 2009, which was celebrated with a trailer. The PC version was released via Steam with SecuROM on December 9, 2009. Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second piece of DLC for Borderlands. It features three new riot arenas (Hellburbia, the Gully and Angelic Ruins) and storage for players' items. The plot of the DLC is Moxxi, a crazed lover who is setting out to find her 4th husband, leading her to make the arenas in the DLC. Players fight several of the game's enemies, including bosses, in arenas. No experience is gained from killing enemies in the arena battles, but experience can be gained from completing challenges or quests in the arena. New game modes are added, such as low gravity fighting, enemy health regeneration, and shieldless fighting. It was released on December 29, 2009, for the Xbox 360 and was released January 7, 2010, for the PlayStation 3 and PC. IGN gave Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot a 6.0/10, praising the fact that friends can be added in to play, and stated that everything else needed work. "There's no more gun, money, or ammo drops, and no XP" and stated that "the only decent amount of guns you'll find are in Marcus Kincaid's vendor machine." The Secret Armory of General Knoxx The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was unofficially announced on January 21, 2010, via the official Gearbox forums, posted by Gearbox level designer Jason Reiss saying the pack will increase the level cap to level 61, and is "the biggest DLC we have made". A tweet by Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann on January 21, 2010, said the pack would also include "more Scooter", who is a character in the game. This was followed by an official announcement from Gearbox via Gearboxity on January 29, 2010, confirming the release, level cap increase, brand new weapons, and "brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions" according to Gearbox, developer of the game. The DLC package became available February 23 for Xbox 360, and February 25 for PlayStation 3 and PC. This DLC however received some negative impact due to players complaining about the size of this DLC's maps. Claptrap's New Robot Revolution On March 3, 2010, Take-Two officially announced a fourth piece of downloadable content, stating that they will "continue to support the title with more add-on content, and our approach to digital content for Borderlands gives Take-Two a road map for other titles going forward." On July 15, 2010, General Knoxx's Twitter page was updated for the first time in months, stating that he had "new orders (sent from the future)" On July 30, 2010, Randy Pitchford, Co-founder of Gearbox Software and current CEO, announced via Twitter regarding the content "I get a LOT of questions about more DLC for Borderlands. Yes, more is coming! T2 already said so! Let's talk soon :)" On August 5, 2010, a long list of content that was supposedly going to be included in the content was posted on the Gearbox Forums. The data was gathered from files in the 1.31 update for the PC version of Borderlands. On August 11, 2010, 2K confirmed the title of the content, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and its main premise. The DLC has 21 missions (split between 9 main missions and 12 side quests), 2 new skill points, and six additional backpack slots. The game focuses around a rogue army of malfunctioning Clap-Traps (led by CL4P-TP, Interplanetary Ninja Assassin, the same Claptrap that is seen getting struck by lightning just after the end credits), along with an army of familiar enemies transformed into Clap-Trap styles (i.e., Crab-Traps, Rakk-Traps, and Skag-Traps). A wide variety of old cast members return alongside new faces. New fast-travel destinations are also expected, a first for Borderlands DLC which wasnt included. Reception Borderlands has garnered mostly favorable reviews from game critics, with an average GameRankings score of 85.84% for Xbox 360 and 83.76% for PlayStation 3 and Metacritic score of 84 and 83 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 respectively. In late 2011, Borderlands was named 35th on IGN's Top 100 Modern Video Games list. Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb gave Borderlands 4 stars out of 5, called it a successful loot-driven first-person shooter "where plenty of other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diablo_%28video_game%29 Diablo]-inspired games have failed miserably", but criticized the "paper-thin story" and the "predictable AI". Charles Onyett from IGN awarded Borderlands an 8.8/10 and an Editor's Choice Award. He noted that fans of RPGs would enjoy the streamlined item management, and treasure hunting, but criticized the lack of character skills. With "beautiful visuals, tried and true RPG mechanics, and solid first-person-shooter gameplay", Onyett felt that the game was very enjoyable. RPGLand's Ivan Taran gave it a rating of "Great" and the game went on to win the site's Xbox 360 Game of the Year award, and be named the Runner-up for overall Game of the Year 2009, losing out to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Borderlands also revived Gameinformer's best co-op game of 2009 from both the player and Gameinformer itself. Sales In late August 2009, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich told GameSpot "... Borderlands could very well surprise the market and consumers as BioShock did in 2007." As of December 2009, the game had sold over 2 million copies according to Take-Two's financial report. By February 2010, the number had risen to 3 million. Since its release, the game has sold 4.5 million units worldwide. Links *"Borderlands Review". IGN. *"Borderlands Review". GiantBomb. *"Borderlands sells 3 million units; Pitchford discusses Gearbox hiring policy, Gamertag". *Official website *[http://www.wikia.com/wiki/c:borderlands Borderlands wiki, an external wiki] *The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned *Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot *The Secret Armory of General Knoxx *Claptrap's New Robot Revolution Category:2009 video games Category:Most Wanted Games Category:Pc Games